Truth (Chapter )(Revised)

The Crystal

Magnolia Park was nearly empty that late afternoon. Few people left to go outside despite the peculiar warmness that had suddenly came after a week of harsh, bitter coldness. Wisteria Berkley was among the few who had decided to come outside, with her pen tucked behind her ear and her notebook under her arm she walked down one of the nature paths hoping to find even more solitude.

Wisteria was small and slender, hiding her small frame in an over-sized jacket to protect her from the moderate chill. She had dark hair and light-brown skin and vividly colored dark green eyes that shone in the tepid sunlight. She pulled her jacket closer to her, now clutching her purple notebook in her left hand. She finally reached her destination, and abandoned paddock with a rickety picnic table in the center surrounded by tall leafless trees. She sat down, unfolding her notebook before, absentmindedly flipping through her many pictures. She was immersed in thought, thinking excitedly how she would soon be able to see her friend Glacia Moreno again

She continued to flip though her sketches when suddenly a voice broke into her thoughts.

“Hello, there,” the voice said. Wisteria looked up to find a elderly woman sitting across from her staring intently . The woman was short, slight hunched, with dull, graying black hair streaked liberally with white, she had dark inset eyes, tanned wrinkled skin, and a hawk like nose. The woman was dressed impractically, wearing a knee-length pastel green dress suitable for summer, gray bedroom slippers, and a dream catcher was around her neck, however, she had nothing to brace her against the cold. As Wisteria observed the woman, the woman began to look nervously up and down the pathways as if she was expecting someone she didn’t want to see.

“Hello,” Wisteria said quietly quickly closing her notebook and placing her clasped upon it. The woman looked curiously at the notebook for a second, and then looked down the path once again seeming slightly more relaxed.

“Look up, let me get a proper look at you. I haven’t seen in you in so long,” the woman said congenially. Wisteria looked up curiously. The woman seemed to think that she knew Wisteria, but as she looked at the woman’s face for any familiarity, she couldn’t find one, but obviously the woman had.

“My goodness…you look just like I remembered thirteen years ago,” the woman said smiling once again. Wisteria continued to look at her, suddenly feeling at a tinge of familiarness in the woman’s voice. She heard it before a long time ago, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“Do you remember me?” the woman asked resting her chin on one of her hands. Wisteria moved her head a little bit almost succeeding in shaking her head, however, she stopped, stared at the woman once more, and then looked down at the brown oak leafs on the ground.

“What do you mean?” she asked concentrating on kicking a mass of sodden leaves with the toe of her shoe.

“I asked, do you remember me? Do you remember my face? My voice…? Anything at all? This would make it much more simple.”

“What do you mean make this more…simple? What are you talking about?”

“Answer the question,” the woman said putting a wizened hand on Wisteria’s hand. Wisteria pulled away in surprise, but she remembered something. She had knew this woman from somewhere. She was sure of it now.

“Um,” Wisteria began staring curiously at the peculiar woman. “How do you actually know me? I have a faint feeling I know you - but I - I really don’t remember you.”

“I would expect that,” the woman said grinning once again, but Wisteria saw a twinge of nervousness in it her eyes were darting between the two nature trails, but the finally rested on Wisteria, and the woman gave her another tired smile.

Wisteria waited impatiently for the woman to continue, but the woman was suddenly at ease her nervousness having ebbed away mysteriously, and she was twirling her wooden cane in one of her hands placidly looking up at the sky as she did so. She looked at Wisteria from the corner of her eye, and then finally looked at her eye to eye.

“Now, now, you want me to tell you how I know you? Well, that’s a rather long story. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“I could use a good story now,” Wisteria said with a sigh looking up and down the street like the woman had to see if anyone had arrived. What was she expecting? Why was she so nervous? Why did she….she….know me? All these thoughts buzzed around Wisteria’s mind as the woman clasped her wrinkled hands, toyed with her dream catcher, and then looked up and down the pathway once more.

The woman then reached out and stroked Wisteria’s cheek and cupped her chin in her hand. Wisteria felt a sudden fondness a remembrance stronger than the last surge of memory.

“You look just as I thought you would,” the woman said smiling brightly. Wisteria nodded feeling dazed her head once spinning once more. She had to know why this woman was so familiar…why she felt a slight amount of fondness for her…

“First let me tell you you’re special,” the woman said shattering Wisteria‘s fond thoughts of her. She was aware of the world once more, aware of the woman‘s dotty appearance and nervousness. “You’re an elemental.” She quickly looked up and down the pathway as she bit her lip. Wisteria stared disbelievingly at her for a few moments.

“An elemental?” Wisteria repeated. She wasn’t quite sure what an elemental was, but when the woman said “she was special” she had become sure whatever the woman spoke of was not true.

“Yes,” the woman replied firmly seeming to sense Wisteria’s doubts. Wisteria picked up her notebook and stared at it, she then shook her head once more and then spoke, “I honestly don’t think I’m who you think I am.”

“Believe me you very much are an elemental. Perhaps my story will help explain,” the woman said, “but I need to talk to you in private. This is very important…”

The woman looked up and down the pathway again, grabbed Wisteria’s elbow with a strong vice grip, and pulled her up from her perch on the edge of her seat. Wisteria nearly dropped her notebook as the woman took off at a surprising speed dragging Wisteria behind her. The woman seemed not to have any use for her wooden cane besides a way to distract herself as Wisteria was seeing now. The woman took long, brisk elegant strides and pulled Wisteria behind her with ease.

“H-ey!” Wisteria finally choked out as the woman pulled her down the slope of the second nature trail causing Wisteria to nearly trip over her now useless feet. “Lemme go!” Wisteria attempted to pull away from her. Her feeble hands attempting to pry the woman‘s grip from her elbow but the woman’s grip tightened so that Wisteria could see her large knuckles more prominently on her hand. She was now unable to even move her elbow.

“It’s okay,” the woman said in a soothing voice pulling Wisteria at a slightly slower pace. “Look there’s my cabin right over there!” She was pointing to a shabby cabin with a dilapidated, sunken roof. It’s wood work appeared to be sub par, making the house look as if it was on the verge of collapse. She pulled Wisteria gently, opened the door, and closed the door bringing Wisteria into the kitchen.

The house was the cozier on the inside then she had expected, and she felt a strange pull to stay there. She said nothing, but looked around the cabin nervously expecting something to jump out at her, but she could find nothing odd in the cabin. All that was in the kitchen was a wood stove with a teapot steaming on one of the eyes, a table with a bowl of hard candies stood directly by the stove. Across from that, in the corner was a table, a fireplace crackled merrily nearby.

“I made tea; I’ve been expecting you for quite some time. I also made cookies…and I have candy if you wish to have some…” the woman said, but Wisteria said nothing. She was too busy at war with herself. What could she possibly do? She wanted to know what the woman said, but she felt at most unease in the cabin. Wisteria tottered at her spot.

“Are you okay? Do you want anything? I have cookies and candy and I’m making tea.”

Wisteria felt her stomach clench causing a wave of nausea. She realized, once again, that she was in a strange cabin technically kidnapped by the congenial woman standing before her. Her more reasonable side was giving her every reason to run and never to tell anyone, to put all this behind her, but her recessive side made her mind buzz with unanswered questions. She had to know what the woman said. She had to know if she was truly an elemental or not. She had to learn the woman’s story, and to find the truth of the woman’s words.

“No thanks,” Wisteria said cautiously remembering the whole “don’t take candy from strangers” mantra that was drilled into her head by her parents as soon as she was able to walk.

“Fine,” the woman said with a shrug, “I know how cautious you young’uns have to be nowadays with so many dangers lurking about, but lets not talk of that. Sit down, sit down. Let me have your coat....” Wisteria apprehensively removed her jacket, and the woman quickly took it, and threw it over a chair.

As the woman was preparing tea, Wisteria slowly walked to the other side of the room toward the square table, looked around the cabin once more, and then looked out the window before she sat down. She saw someone walk by swiftly, having apparently been looking in the cabin, and then briskly walked away almost seeming to have disappeared. She quickly got up slightly and looked and the window and saw nothing.

“Are you okay? What’s out the window?” the woman asked looking nervously out the window; she then drew the shades when she saw nothing. Wisteria’s stomach was now performing flip-flops.

“Do you want some tea?" the woman asked.

“No, thanks.”

“You don’t trust me do you?” the woman asked casually as she walked back to the kitchen, pouring hot water into a mug. She plopped a tea bag in it, and then looked back at Wisteria. Wisteria felt extremely uncomfortable, and she alighted back down on her seat and looked down at her sneakers once more.

“Do you want anything?” the woman asked as if she had never asked the question.

Wisteria’s face felt hot as it did whenever she got nervous. She shook her head wryly. “Um, my stomach feels a little queasy.”

“Oh, well, I can add ginger to your tea if you’d like; I have honey also.”

“Really, no thanks,” Wisteria said holding her stomach to add effect. “I’m fine…..”

“Oh…okay,” the woman said. “I understand.“ The woman sat down in the seat across from Wisteria and pulled a cookie from the pile. She dipped it daintily in her tea cup, and then munched on it as she gave Wisteria a thoughtful look

The woman sprinkled a few crumbs on the floor and the placed the cookie back on her periwinkle napkin. She took a deep breath. “Sorry about the way a got you here. I know you’re a cautious one…so I had to get you here somehow.” She sipped her tea and then placed the cup back on the table.

“Well, I told you were an elemental…do you know which one?” she continued.

“Earth!” was the word that blurted from Wisteria’s mouth before she even realized it. She clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise. What was she saying?

“It seems I’m getting through to the part of you that remembers me, and yourself,” the woman said and she tapped her finger on the table. Wisteria removed her hand from her mouth.

“Earth?” she said in a nearly inaudible whisper. She was beginning to feel different now - as if the woman was affecting her in some odd way. She felt fond and familiar, and she was remembering things she never would have thought possible, however, they only appeared in her mind in fragments. Coming out when she least expected it.

“Yes, earth. You are the earth element the power is deep within you.” The woman took another sip of her tea.

“I don’t have any powers. Magic doesn’t exist,” Wisteria stated evenly as if she was answering a question for a teacher. The woman stopped drinking a tea, stared pensively at the copper elixir, at the rising steam, and once more at Wisteria.

“That’s not true,” the woman said in a lowered voice placing the cup down and coming closer to Wisteria as her voice dropped. “Magic is locked inside each and every one of us.”

“Well, I don’t have -” Wisteria began, but the woman curtly cut her off.

“Let me tell you the story, and maybe you’ll understand,” the woman continued in an almost commanding voice.

“Okay,” Wisteria said, surprising herself with her sudden eagerness.

“Well, I’ll begin with I created you,” the woman said simply as if she had just told Wisteria that it would be partly cloudy with mild sunlight the next day.

“What?” Wisteria sputtered she could barely believe that the woman had said what she said. “You didn’t….you didn’t …you did - you did not create me…”

“Yes, I did,” the woman said calmly nodding affirmatively. “I made your spirit out of the earth around us. I have two ways to tell. First I can see it in your eyes.”

“My eyes?” Wisteria asked awestruck. Was that how the woman planned to explain all this on?

“Yes, your green eyes,” the woman said nodding as she stared deeply into Wisteria’s dark eyes. “Then, I see you through this.” The woman reached in the pocket of her dress her fingers clasping something, and then a crystal emerged. It was a small crystal, teardrop shaped and fragile looking hanging from a delicate silver chain. The woman took Wisteria’s hand, opened it, and dropped it into her palm, and with Wisteria‘s touch the crystal immediately began to change. It swirled with a kaleidoscope of colors until it finally settled on an emerald, the same color as Wisteria’s eyes, with a darker green maple leaf rested on the inside.

“What is this?” Wisteria said breaking out of her previous trance. She placed the crystal back on the table to watch as a rainbow of colors swirled about finally dispersing in a normal, vacant clear crystal. Wisteria stared in awe at the second metamorphosis.

“Why does it change like that?” Wisteria asked staring curiously at the crystal. She afraid to touch it once more…afraid to believe all this was true.

“It only changes when an elemental touches it or is touching it while in contact with another elemental,” the woman said looking at the crystal and touching it, unlike with Wisteria it did not change.

“I still don’t believe this,” Wisteria said shaking her head. “I’m not magical. I’m not special. I’m just a - a normal girl….”

“No you are not,” the woman said tonelessly. “I know that is not true. I will continue with my story anyways.”

“Well, I am the creator of magic,” she said. “I create magic and the magic goes on until it finds it’s proper owner. I have no say in who gets it or not. I’m just to make magic and let it roam. I create it, and then the judge makes sure that it goes to a certain side and keeps the magics in balance. The judge and I are supposed to be neutral, but he has chosen a side and so have I. However, I created you and your sisters -”

“Sisters?” Wisteria asked confused.

“Yes, I made five of you. Water, earth, air, fire, and ice and I made that crystal to identify you and protected it so that only you five can use it. Well, there is someone on the other side who has a stronger version of my power. She can take and create power and do whatever she pleases with it. The Judge sensed this powerfulness and chose that side. I cannot say why.”

“How can she do that? Isn’t he neutral?” Wisteria asked hanging onto the woman’s ever word.

“That’s the problem; I don’t know how he joined the other side and I don‘t know why. He shouldn’t be able to, but he found a way and the balance shifted along with that, and since he picked a side I did the same, but nothing changed.”

“Can you explain this sister thing?” Wisteria asked as her interest level began to peak. She actually felt a sudden pull to believe what this woman said was true.

“Of course,” the woman said. “I created five magics and made them into spirits and they drifted off to other families while one stayed with me so when it was time she would go out to find you.

“However, our plans were stopped short. As soon as we had a sure idea of where you were; she was kidnapped on August sixth.”

“Today is January first that was nearly five months ago. Why didn’t you come for me sooner?”

“I had to tread cautiously, and of course I had to try to find her but I couldn’t. My daughter and your sister, Maria, is lost to me on the opposite side.”

“You mean she - Maria - is evil?” Wisteria asked awestruck.

“No, Maria is not evil - she is just trapped,” the woman paused for a moment and Wisteria saw that she was dabbing at her eyes with one of her periwinkle napkins. She sniffed and then continued. “I cannot find her - only an elemental can using that crystal. My protection protects it against me, too, for the sake of someone trying to use me against you.”

“So, you want me to find her? I can’t just leave!” Wisteria said shaking her head. She rose from her seat and paced walked the length of the table back and forth her arms crossed. Her eyes flickered to the door once more.

“It will all work out; you’ll see. Just follow your life as you normally would,” the woman said as she lightly touched Wisteria’s arm . “Of course, I have a guide to help you just in case you and your sisters find yourselves lost.”

“I thought I just had to find one,” Wisteria said dumbly pulling away slightly.

“No, along the way hopefully you’ll find the others. You all are naturally drawn together and your destinies are intertwined - you’ll find each other I’m sure of it.”

“What is this guide?” Wisteria asked.

“You’ll know the guide when you find her. Just follow her; her name is Truth.”

“Truth?” Wisteria asked wondering what this guide was. Would it be some odd fantasy creature? Something like a dragon? She could honestly believe the woman had no sense when it came to the separation of the things she called magics and reality. “Do I have to find her myself? How am I to use these powers of mine? What if I can’t find Maria? What if I can’t find the other elementals? What if -”

The woman broke her off, “You ask too many questions - I cannot answer them all….. Just go about your life normally. You elementals are magnetically together. I’m just speeding up the process….which is much needed in these times.”

“Then why haven’t I encountered them?” Wisteria asked.

“How do you know you haven’t?” the woman countered as she grabbed another cookie and nibbled on it as she looked down at Wisteria. Wisteria thought about that for a few moments watching the woman examine her cookie slowly. Maybe she had met one. It was possible, she didn’t even no she possessed any magical abilities. But the question was, would she be able to locate them once more to be able to persuade them to come on a mysterious journey with her to restore a balance?

“Wouldn’t I know?” Wisteria finally asked. “If we’re magnetically drawn…wouldn’t I be able to tell?"

“You probably always knew, Wisteria,” the woman said airily as she examined the nuts on her partly eaten cookie. “You probably always knew.”
Everything was silent until the woman began to hum. Wisteria stared at her for a few moments the bizarre woman..

“I never caught your name,” Wisteria finally said.

“My, it’s getting dark. Shouldn’t you be getting home? Then you can think of all the questions you want to ask me when you see me again.”

“But -” Wisteria began. She had millions of questions to ask the woman - but the woman was already standing up and handing Wisteria her coat.

“Dear, it’s time to go home…it‘s time to set off on your journey. Just follow Truth and your heart….”